Dowkabottom Cave
Sunday, 30 March 2014
For the 4th caving trip in one week, I decided on Dowkabottom Cave which i’d not visited before and which provided a great couple of hours caving. The walk-in was really pleasant in the summer-y weather and beautiful surroundings and once underground a fine large passage was followed to the start of the duck. This was simple enough, having plenty of airspace but necessitating neck deep wading for a few metres. Beyond this, a mixture of large passage and very short crawls led to a traverse over a pool and soon later a very impressive passage which enlarged to 25-30m high and several metres wide with a small stream running in the floor. Unfortunately this didnt last long and the way on was a short rocky crawl to a small cascade and then hands and knees crawl in the stream to a low section which soon improved to stooping to the final choke. On the way out, a dig at the end of the huge passage was visited and the streamway was followed upstream in a pleasant passage for a few mins before heading out.
A great trip with variety, some very impressive passage and nice formations! Well worth doing. A good sunday trip!